-Down to Earth Participation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes in the scheme has halved in five years The Centre’s flagship rural employment guarantee scheme seems to be losing appeal for its target groups. An analysis of the monitoring report of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by Down To Earth (DTE) shows participation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the scheme has more than halved in last...

-Frontline The Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation Bill is an attempt to circumvent the hurdles before acquisition, such as rehabilitation of land losers, without much increasing the cost of land. THE preamble to the draft Land Acquisition, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (LARR) Bill is very noble; it talks about a “humane, informed, consultative and transparent process for land acquisition for industrialisation, development of essential infrastructural facilities and urbanisation with the least disturbance...

-The Hindu The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) — a health insurance scheme that provides free hospitalisation to the poor — would become a major fiasco if insurance companies continue to throw a spanner, reveals a study. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) — a health insurance scheme that provides free hospitalisation to the poor — would become a major fiasco if insurance companies continue to throw a spanner, reveals a World...

-The Hindu Chhattisgarh passes improved Food Security Bill The Raman Singh government in Chhattisgarh has stolen a march over the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre by enacting the Chhattisgarh Food Security Act, 2012, which provides for food entitlements to all Antyodaya households, priority households and general households without prescribing any limit on the percentage of beneficiaries in the vulnerable social groups. The Bill that was passed by State Assembly on Friday,...

-The Business Standard Despite industry's worries, land Bill cannot be delayed  The meeting of the Union Cabinet last Thursday was, by the standards of the United Progressive Alliance ( UPA) government at least, quite effective. In what Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has called the UPA’s “slog overs”, several policy changes were announced, and proposed laws cleared. Perhaps the most important was the approval of the long-awaited changes to India’s colonial-era land...